The EU (Withdrawal) Bill: Principles, Powers and Parliaments

Events

The EU (Withdrawal) Bill: Principles, Powers and Parliaments

1 Jul 2017

On 12 September, the day after the EU (Withdrawal) Bill received its second reading in the House of Commons, this major one-day public event brought together leading parliamentarians and legal and constitutional specialists from across the UK to discuss the critical issues raised by the Bill and its prospects in the UK’s parliaments and assemblies.

Listen to the event in full

Video recordings of all the panels

are available on the UK in a Changing Europe website.

Programme

9.00 Registration and coffee

9.30 Welcome and introduction

Professor Anand Menon, Director, ESRC UK in a Changing Europe

9.35 The EU (Withdrawal) Bill: Overview

The Government's approach

Daniel Denman, Director, Legal Advisors, Department for Exiting the EU

Legislating for Brexit: the issues

Professor Sionaidh Douglas-Scott, Anniversary Chair in Law, Queen Mary University of London

10.45 Delegated Powers

Chair: Dr Ruth Fox, Director and Head of Research, Hansard Society
Michael P. Clancy OBE, Director, Law Reform, Law Society of Scotland
Professor Mark Elliott, Professor of Public Law, University of Cambridge; Legal Adviser, House of Lords Constitution Committee
Lord Lisvane, Member, House of Lords Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee; former Clerk of the House of Commons

12.00 Lunch

13.00 Rights and Enforcement

Chair: Marie Demetriou QC, Brick Court Chambers
Professor Catherine Barnard, Professor of European Union Law, Cambridge University, and ESRC UK in a Changing Europe
Martha Spurrier, Director, Liberty

14.00 Devolution

Chair: Professor Dan Wincott, Professor of Law and Society, Wales Governance Centre, Cardiff University
Professor Colin Harvey, Professor of Human Rights Law, Queen's University Belfast, and ESRC UK in a Changing Europe
Dr Jo Hunt, Reader in Law, Cardiff University, and ESRC UK in a Changing Europe
Professor Stephen Tierney, Professor of Constitutional Theory, Edinburgh University, and ESRC UK in a Changing Europe; Legal Adviser, House of Lords Constitution Committee

15.15 Tea

15.30 Parliamentary Perspectives

Chair: Professor Richard Rawlings, Professor of Public Law, University College London, and Honorary Distinguished Professor, School of Law and Politics, Cardiff University

A panel (subject to parliamentary business) including:

Hilary Benn MP, Chair, House of Commons Committee on Exiting the EU (Labour)
Sir Bill Cash MP, previous Chair, House of Commons European Scrutiny Committee (Conservative)
Joanna Cherry QC MP, Member, House of Commons Committee on Exiting the EU (SNP)
Dr Stephen Farry MLA, Deputy Leader and Brexit spokesman, Alliance Party
Eluned Morgan AM, Baroness Morgan of Ely, Member, National Assembly for Wales External Affairs and Additional Legislation Committee (Labour)

The event is funded by the ESRC UK in a Changing Europe initiative, and co-convened by Cardiff University’s Wales Governance Centre and the Hansard Society.

Latest / Highlights

Blog / How should Parliament handle the Seventh Carbon Budget - and why does it matter?

The Climate Change Act 2008 established a framework for setting carbon budgets every five years. But the role of Parliament in approving these budgets has been widely criticised, including by the Prime Minister. The Environmental Audit Committee has proposed improvements in the scrutiny process to ensure effective climate action, particularly in the context of the UK’s commitment to achieving 'Net Zero' emissions by 2050. These reforms will significantly alter the way Parliament handles the Seventh Carbon Budget in 2025.

News / Tobacco and Vapes Bill: free vote blows smoke in Rishi Sunak's eyes - Parliament Matters podcast, Episode 30

Rishi Sunak offered his MPs a free vote on his flagship Tobacco and Vapes Bill and dozens concluded they could not support it. As well as exploring the politics of the Bill, Ruth and Mark discuss the concept of a free vote and how they have been deployed in previous parliamentary sessions.

Guides / Private Members' Bills (PMBs)

Private Members' Bills (PMBs) are bills introduced by MPs and Peers who are not government ministers. The procedures, often a source of controversy, are different to those that apply for government bills. Below are 7 short guides that explain key aspects of the process, as well as data on the number of PMBs that are successful each Session, and our proposals for reform of the PMB system.

Blog / Two Houses go to war: the Safety of Rwanda Bill and the origins of the Parliament Act

The Parliament Act is being bandied about in the media again in connection with the Rwanda Bill. This blogpost explains why the Parliament Act cannot be used in relation to the Rwanda Bill and looks at the origins and key features of the Act to place the current debate about the role of the House of Lords in its historical context.

Blog / Creeping ministerial powers: the example of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill

The Government’s flagship Tobacco and Vapes Bill will ban the sale of tobacco to anyone born after 2009. The genesis of the delegated powers in the Bill – dating back a decade - tells an important story about the way in which incomplete policy-making processes are used by Ministers to seek ‘holding’ powers in a Bill, only for that precedent to then be used to justify further, broader powers in subsequent Bills. This ‘creeping’ effect in the legislative process undermines parliamentary scrutiny of ministerial action.